On the morning of the 15th of May I was awakened by a shock. Bunks have only one virtue as sleeping-places. If there is a collision, you are not shot out, your feet are simply driven into the hoards. The change from motion to stillness made me feel quite seasick for a moment; but that passed off, and I lay wondering in a sleepy sort of fashion as to what had happened. Then I heard a voice call out "My God, he's done it,"
a-dozen times, in the tone of a man who has won a bet. I wondered who had done what; but I was thoroughly awakened when the steward rushed along the aissage saying "Passengers stand by." I Jooked out and Mr. Siedle was amusing things to his daughter and Mis Robinson from the other side of their curtain, They were dressing. I got into some clothes, and then I looked in upon Simking and found him dressed. went upstairs and found the melancholy young man throwing a bottle into the se Ho assured us it was the proper thing to do on such occasions, His name and address were in the bottle. not understand how anyone should have been Everything was absolutely qui officers were apparently very" busy could sce the coolies throtzh the of the hatches peacefully ash a wilderness of brown arms and legs white cloths. At the bow of the steamer stretching from horizon to horizon the ware a faint white line, and far to our Ie was a large black indistinct object that seemed to be an island. The moon was ding through murky clouds: the sea was unnaturally cal we had' struck the southern side of the I began to make inquiries, and found
*One-and-a-Half Degree Channel." There was a strong set to the southward which had carried the vessel 75 miles out of her course in twelve hours. We were plainly fast by the bows. Dawn came with rush, and the fi white ut a line of object was it. Te faintly see a boat and four men on the white sand. The tide was ebbing, and soon from the reef to the island the sand and coral appeared with 0 and channels of water.
We looked about us, and everywhere, except behind its, there were isle: some far off, some nearer, some perhaps a mile long, others that looked ons fow square yards with half a dozen pals elbowing each other to keep out of the yea at their roots. After a while, as the men on the island seemed to take no notice of us, we lowered a hoat—they had all been swig ont—and tried to get on to the reef.
ON THE REE, However, the boat could not make the reef for the surf, and we had to jump in and swim for it. My rifle went to the bottom and was hooked up afterwards by an enterprising lascar. The reef made very bad walk t we trudged along, stumbling into pools and swimming the channels. The chief officer described the reef as a "blooming museum." The coral grew like ferns and like toadstools in radiant colours, but main! deli rose. Great conger cels wriggled thro the channels and numberless fish swarmed in the pool—fish that. were sky blue and others that were emerald green. and others still in scarlet and gold. On the island we were greeted shyly by the natives—little men who wore only pettit coats with small knives stuck in their girdles and a bag of betel strung round their necks. Mr. Siedle, who in his youth had salvaged a steamer in the islands, attempted conversation, which was cked out by signs and diagrams on the sand. But we could hardly distract the islanders from our clothes, which they evidently very nich desired to possess. We found that they were merely visitors to_ the island and were about to depart with a boatload of cocoanut. They promised to send us boats from the larger island lich we could sce in the distance. Left alone, we explored our island. It was only two or three acres in extent, with one or two holes of brackish water. It had a brave show of palm trees, the coconuts from which gave us a very refreshing drink, and it had a thick growth of flowering shrubs of several kinds, with large Aeshy leaves and blossoms. One or two jungle fowl scuteled about under the trees, and there were numberless ants everywhere, The chief officer showed me ae ing well up in the branches of a bush, and I accused him of putting it there till T saw another at the same ga The risen and we were prisoners—with a shark for sentry. In the afternoon a fleet of sailing boats swarmed down on the ship.
them clustering round, and ming on beard. Then, in a ship's boat crossed the reef and took us off. It was guided by a Maldivian, a queer little man in a sort of uniform with a peaked hat. We rowed straight at the breakers and took the reef as a here takes a hurdle. When we reached the steamer we found that the landers had left for the night. The ship was vere uneasy. She bumped and slid about most uncomfortably. Two kedge anchors had been put out aft to keep her in position; but in the night one of the steel hawsers snapped and the vessel swung round a little. There was a hint of terrible tragedy in the sleeping forms under the iron grating. If the steamer should swing round, her bows might slide off, and she might go down by the head. We were report th was habu Lit was decided to land the In the carly morning. w up a rope from the hows to a n the reef, and when the tide was at its lowest those of us who could swim stood up to our armpits in the water and landed the coolies from the boats. They each had a bundle of food, and their pelon: with their tin lotas full of water. The water nearly always came to grief, and the bundle was ustially caught by a' wave before they got into shallow water; but we passed them along the rope in tinual string. They behaved splendidly if they had been born to salt. water, and_on the reef they rushed about ex: ploring the pools and filling their dhot with shells and coral. They threw de-mer at another and a lot of school boys.
The chief officer was afraid that the tide would catch us, and we made for the island with a batch of a hundred. The melancholy young man came with us. He had £300 in his pocket. On the advice of his fellow-passengers, he was yom: to} bury it in the sand and sit on it. In the; afternoon we negotiated with the Maldi-j vious to take the rest of the coolies on/ shore. The Maldivian is a creature; altogether despicable. If he were not rank coward ho would be a pirate, and his only thought is of loot. One party of them threatened to loot the ship in! the name of the Sultan: but the captain! showed them to their senses. We bar:
ined with them for hours before thes would help. They were paid in bags of rice, and, when they started landing food, they shuffled the freight from boat to boat ina manner which would do credit to the Heathen Chinee. However, overyone got landed, excepting a dozen sick who Were in hospital, and by night only, two or three of the men passengers remained on board with the ship"
Tents, provisions, and water hi landed by ship's' boats and native and a raft had been constructed which would make us independent of the Maldivians.
THE START FOR COLOMLO, Tt was now determined to send a life: boat to Colombo, nearly four hundred les away, for assistance, as the Maldivious absolutely refused to undertake the voyage, excusing themselves on the score of the monsoon weather which they said was at hand, The lascar crew also refuse ed to go, with the exception of two, the fat old serang, or bosun, who looked like Falstaff in sepia, and a. khalasi, The Chief Officer, Mr. Bruckland, and the Third Officer, Mr. Tollemache, were all who could be xpared among the officers, so Mr. Simkins and I volunteered. The south-west colombo was north: wind had been blowing steadily from the
at and 1 hundred miles, we quick rin of perhaps five days. We started after dinner on the night of the 16th, and before we had been, out an hour we went into a thunderstorm. The squall struck us like an open hand, and the rain came down in floods, flashes of I T saw the Chief Of lower the throw out sandh but Twas already too seasick what happened. We were all seasick. The Chief Officer was the only exception, and I take his word for this against: testimony which I should otherwise have deemed conclusive to the contrary. The serang was violently seasick and' lay in the bows: the khalasi was hopelessly sick, and cowered under the thwarts; Mr. Simbkins was sick unto death and hated steadily all through it. To bale and to be seasick is to be a hero. I tried and collapsed. The rain and spray drenched thing. A little percolated even into the biscuit lockers. Our portmanteaus lay in three or four inches of water, auh were gradually al into pulp. "1 had a new Cawnpore kithaz, which L had mainted with momragan, and it stood out best, but ever i out of all shape: nnd the clothes inside grow damp. By morning we were scudding under a stiff wind with two reefs in' the sail. Two reefs proved to be insufficient, and, as maker' needles had been forzotton, we tied the sail round balls of tow and attached the reef strings to. the buttons so formed. We wore shivering with the wet, and Twas calling myself a Quixotie ass for coming at all. The Chiol Offecr looked a trifle gloomy, thonzh he had been singing all night to keep our spirits up. The wind had changed its direction, and was now from the north-west. The boat had no keel te speak of, and we could not ma course enough to the north ward. But to my mind we seemed to be mal great progress.
All day clouds gathered to windward. They were not ordinary clouds. They stretched upwards in a slanting direction to an enormous height. and they looked as if they must lose their balance and topple over. They came down majestically, "terrible as an army with banners," and at nightfall ther were on us. We lowered the sail at the gust and threw out a sea-anchor. The sea-anchor, for the benefit of landsman, is a canvas bag, with a framed mouth and narrowing a small aperture at the foot. at the end of a long rope—it was a great help [in steadying the boat.
With the onset of the clouds the night became utterly dark, and the only light was tha
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.